Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS Lens

For the $100 or so that you can buy this lens for, it is really phenomenal, and represents a huge jump in optical quality from its non-IS predecessors (and comparable offerings from other lens makers). And of course the image stabilization allows you to easily hand-hold 1/15 sec and even slower shots. It has great sharpness (only a little soft wide open at the corners) and relatively low chromatic abberations. Read the in-depth reviews of the lens at photozone.de for a more precise explanation of this lens' characteristics.

I give this lens 5-stars not because it's a Canon L-quality lens (it's not), but because it offers so much for its price point. Your possible "upgrades" to this lens include the Canon 17-85mm IS lens at roughly $200 (significantly WORSE optical quality), the $280 Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 lens (better macro ratio; slightly worse optics; no IS), the $350 Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 (slightly better optics; faster, but no IS), The $500 Canon 17-40mm f4 L lens (better build quality, not as much of an optical improvement as you'd expect, no IS) and of course the $1000 Canon 17-55mm f2.8 lens (better everything). So, you've really got to spend a lot more money to get lenses that are only marginally better than this one.

I recommend that anyone who has the older, non-IS 18-55mm lenses upgrade to this one, because it's only about a $50 upgrade after you sell the old one.